A distributed dynamic sensor network such as an ocean sensor network typically comprises at least one host connected to a plurality of monitoring devices. These monitoring devices, which may comprise commercial off-the-shelf sensors as well as custom-made or one-of a-kind instruments, often operate on very diverse software protocols, including serial communication protocols such as RS-232 and RS-485. As such, to deploy a sensor in the network requires complicated, manual, time-consuming, tedious, and error-prone device software installation and platform configuration.
For example, the MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) Ocean Observing Systems (MOOS) provide capabilities to instrument locations of scientific interest in various geographical sites. The capabilities include cable laying and connection, satellite based bi-directional communications, instrumentation interface, data management, event detection and response, as well as integration, interfacing, and operation with other platforms including autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV's) and vertical profilers. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 1, a MOOS network 100 may include various instruments and sensors such as fluorometers, radiometers, spectroradiometers, seismic sensors, Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP's), and Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) instruments. A computer with an ADCP graphic user interface (GUI) hosts a plurality of servers/drivers for the various instruments and sensors coupled thereto. The computer may be located onboard a ship allowing a user on the ship to monitor the instruments and sensors as well as using the database and services at shore.
Currently, there are more than one hundred MOOS candidates, including commercial off-the-shelf sensors as well as custom-made, one-of a-kind instruments. These MOOS candidates come with diverse software protocols. As such, to deploy a monitoring device in the MOOS network 100, one must first configure the device by plugging the device into a host port, installing onto the host the device software and configuration files, etc., and modifying the host's configuration file, e.g., port number, baud rate, etc. As a result, the deploying process is often time consuming, tedious, and prone to errors.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,955, issued to Faisandier of Paris, France, discloses an electronic device that provides a universal interface between sensors and an acquisition and processing system of the signals originating from the sensors. In Faisandier, various sensors are connected to standardized terminals, appearing all identical to the user. Developed for medical applications, Faisandier's universal interface is limited to the generation of a signal reflecting correctly the activity of the sensor. Faisandier's patent does not address or solve the aforementioned problems related to deploying sensing instruments in a distributed, dynamic network.
In the case of an ocean sensor network, the presence of water, e.g., immersion of hardware in saltwater, adds to the difficulty of sensor deployment. U.S. Pat. No. 5,821,405, issued to Dickey et al. of Texas, USA, discloses a modular water quality measurement apparatus and method. The modularized sensor system comprises a sealed or unsealed housing to which is attached a universal sensor interface cap having mechanical sensor connections thereon for receiving removably attachable sensors. The removably attachable uniform sensors are conformed so as to fit within and to seal the mechanical sensor connections. Dickey et al.'s invention essentially solves the aforementioned problems related to diverse sensor software protocols and platform configuration by providing a specially designed uniform sensor apparatus.
Currently, there are no viable plug-and-work solutions to deploying sensing/monitoring instruments of various types and software protocols in a distributed, dynamic sensor network, particularly in an oceanic environment.